Kosovo: The Speaker of Parliament Becomes Interim President in a Political Impasse

Kosovo gets a new president. On Saturday, parliament president Albulena Haxhiu became the country’s interim president in the midst of a political crisis, after the failure of deputies to elect a successor to the head of state, Vjosa Osmani.

Despite winning two general elections, Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s party failed in March to garner the necessary support in the highly divided parliament for his presidential candidate.

Until April 28th, the Assembly will elect a new president

Now serving as interim president, Albulena Haxhiu from the Vetevendosje party (VV, social democrat), in power, declared she was convinced that “the Assembly will elect a new president as soon as possible.”

This interim term can last up to six months, but at the end of March, the Constitutional Court set April 28th as the deadline for the election of a new president. In case of failure, new snap legislative elections must be organized within 45 days.

Third snap parliamentary elections in just over a year?

The president of Kosovo is elected for a five-year term by a two-thirds majority of the 120 deputies in the Assembly.

Facing the deputies’ inability to agree on a candidate for head of state, Vjosa Osmani decided in early March to dissolve parliament and announce new snap legislative elections, which would have been the third in just over a year following those of February 2025 and the snap elections of December 28th.

However, the Kosovo Constitutional Court, petitioned by Albin Kurti and his party, rejected the president’s decree dissolving parliament, urging the deputies to elect a president within the specified deadline.

Political impasse

By handing over the interim to Albulena Haxhiu, Vjosa Osmani emphasized her longstanding wish to be replaced by a woman. “And this wish has come true today,” she said.

The Balkan country has been in a political stalemate since the parliamentary elections of February 2025. The inability to form a new government for months following these elections led to the snap elections of December 28th.